This invention relates generally to a system and method for handling electronic devices, and more particularly to a system and method for loading untested electronic devices into a machine, and for sorting tested electronic devices into multiple categories according to a sort category code assigned by a tester attached to the machine.
Conventional handlers, as described below and illustrated in FIG. 1A, are very expensive and occupy a large amount of floor space in the manufacturing facility. Thus, it is desirable to provide a handling system that can supply untested electronic devices to the tester at the necessary speed as well as sort tested electronic devices quickly into a plurality of sort categories, is less expensive to build than conventional handling systems and occupies less floor space than conventional handing systems.
In a conventional system for handling devices in a testing environment, the sort bins are horizontally located with respect to each other. This conventional handling system is slow because a second pick-and-place head must move horizontally a great distance in order to place a tested electronic device in either a pass category bin or a rejected category bin, or otherwise place it in a bin corresponding to its performance characteristics. As the number of sort category bins increases, the travel time required for the second pick-and-place head to place an electronic device into a sort category bin increases to unacceptable levels. In addition, the size of the handling machine, known as a footprint, increases dramatically because each additional sort category increases the footprint.
Conventional handling systems provide some ability to sort and handle electronic devices, but none of the conventional handling systems provide an electronic device handling system that can rapidly sort electronic devices into a plurality of sort categories, is less expensive to build than conventional handling systems, and has a small footprint even for a system with a plurality of sort category bins.
There is a need for such a system and method for handling electronic devices, and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.